Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Wisdom of the Constitution

There is a question on the table that strikes at the core of every American who cares about the future of this country. And left unresolved, this quandary may result in the failure of our nation to heal its chasmic ideological division. Is the Constitution of the United States of America a living document?

Does it possess the ability to evolve without regard to the self-imposed restrictions listed within its very text? Quite simply, and for the record, I say no.

Make no mistake, it is not my intention to imply I am a Constitutional expert or that anyone should take my word for it. But in my opinion no, it does not possess this aforementioned ability, it never has and it never will.

Furthermore, I think it is much easier to arrive at this conclusion than those who disagree would have us all believe. One need not spend years studying the Constitution, the complete written doctrine of each of the Founding Fathers, and every applicable ruling of the Supreme Court to intelligently discern for oneself this pleasantly simple truth.

It merely requires the acknowledgement of the fact that the Founding Fathers did not write the Constitution in an effort to create something new; they wrote it to prevent something old.

The Founding Fathers studied history and the abundant failures of nation after nation throughout, many of which came into existence under the guise of good intentions. Coupled with the experience of having been ruled by a selfish tyrant, they resultantly came to a simple and categorical conclusion; these countless governments had fallen because they failed to enact and enforce a set of strict limitations on their own power. They had declined to preclude man's fickle tendencies from overcoming the steady wisdom of logic and forethought.

One could easily surmise that the Founding Fathers were as versed in the inevitable tendencies of human nature as anyone in their day. Through this understanding they were able to bestow upon us a plan by which we could preempt these self-serving inevitable tendencies.

They understood that the irresistible allure of power was sure to invite malicious intent born of greed and disguised as false altruism. They knew man had been man for an immeasurable period of time and would remain so equally as long. Thus a clearly defined standard must be deliberately enacted, inexorably enforced and tirelessly defended as long as these inevitable tendencies of human nature persisted.

This standard is the Constitution of the United States of America. And nowhere in it will you find it written, implied or intimated that each generation of Americans is at liberty to reestablish its meaning or redefine its intentions.

The inimitable wisdom of the Founding Fathers did not end at their recognition of the potential for malice inherent in mankind. They foresaw the possibility for the birth of ideas and intentions which, appropriately adopted as part of this standard, could serve to further its sole intent of preserving Liberty and Freedom for all.

If you wish to term the application of Article V as the mechanism for evolution of the Constitution than I will enthusiastically join you. But if you try to tell me there is any way outside these strict guidelines by which the governance defined in this document can be altered, changed or otherwise reformed then you are not only on your own, but sadly mistaken.

4 comments:

Wonderfully said, sadly every "government professor" I had in college believed and taught this erroneous idea...The "living document" theory. Now we have thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of "educated" people who believe this garbage.

The Republicans sure have done their best to kill the constitution. Reagan with his zero tolerance policy toward American citizens. G W Bush with the “patriot act.” And now the Libertarians want to rewrite history in their own misguided simplistic image and do away with 200 hundred years of legal interpretations and declare the civil rights act of 1964 applies only to federal government employees. Yes the Libertarians want the constitution to be dead.

Anon, not sure what libertarian party you're referring to but it sure isn't mine. My Libertarian party wants the constitution to be alive and well and followed as intended, including its limits on government power. Don't know where you get your info on the Libertarian position on civil rights, but it sounds like it's a democrat or republican site. Definitely not Libertarian.

First of all you claim the constitution not to be a living thing then you proclaim because the constitution is not a living thing it cannot be changed.

Therefore you wrongly claim mankind is incapable of acculiminating knowledge.

The “wisdom” of the founding fathers came from European roots. The principles and philosophy put forth in the US constituted where born in Europe. These philosophies rejected the “King’s Divine Right to Govern.”

The turning point against the “King’s Divine Right to Govern.” began when individuals (merchants) began to accumulate wealth independent from the crown. With wealth independent from the crown individual merchants began to acquire power independent from the crown. Individual merchants soon realized that in associations they had more power. This movement eventually grew to the house of commons in the British government.